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THE SCENIC SIDEWALK (www.thescenicsidewalk.com) is a catalog of street art photographed in cities across the U.S., South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, beginning in 2007. The images cover a large area geographically but, in the end, represent a very small portion of the startling art you can discover in cities around the world. From Bogota to Barcelona to Beijing, from Pittsburgh to Paris, there are a lot of artists out there who, even as they make it into galleries and museums, still think the view from the sidewalk is worth a little wheatpaste and effort (and an occasional run-in with the law). And so, if you are prone to notice the scenery, you may get to see some truly inspiring/inspired pieces by artists like Judith Supine, Mariano Molina, Swoon, Ellis G.

The art is there to be discovered, and it is a constantly changing exhibition. If you find something wonderful, and then walk down the same street a few weeks later, it may still be there or been covered over or washed away by the rain. Or, like the Parisian cardboard dragon in the very first post, likely don’t exist anymore at all, as they were drawn not on solid walls but on materials that were themselves impermanent.

So pay attention. In places where the sky comes in squares and ribbons instead of broad stretches, there are other rewards.

—SB

Photo: Taken during summer 2007; the image in the header shows artist El Mac (assumedly, as this is his work) up on a ladder making magic. You can see the finished piece here.